This morning is fall in all its glory. The sky is a bright blue and the sun is shining. The air has a bit of a chill, and it’s sweatshirt weather. It is the loveliest of days.
Where have all the heroes gone? When I was a kid, they were easy to identify. Every Saturday morning I watched the Lone Ranger, Hopalong, Gene Autry, Will Bill Hickock and Roy Rogers. The bad guys never had a chance. All those cowboys had codes of behavior which didn’t seem silly or naive. None of us scoffed at the Lone Ranger when he said that all men are created equal and that everyone has within himself the power to make this a better world. At the end of every show there was a moral, and doing the right thing was the gist of it. Hopalong made honesty a badge of honor. Gene Autry never took advantage of anyone, even his enemy. Wild Bill reminded us to study hard. The code of the west was you always kept a promise, and I still always do. I won’t make a promise unless I know I can keep it. It is my word, my honor. I learned that when I was very young, and I learned it from television.
I am an optimist. I try to believe in the best of people even though that belief has been tested and strained time and time again, but I can’t give it up. I have to believe that people will do what’s right. I guess I’m still naive, but I prefer it to being pessimistic and hardened.
Some of my friends look at the world with a jaundiced eye. I feel sorry for them and for their loss. Hope is what gets me up in the morning. I hope it will be a good day; I hope that I might have a laugh or two, see a marvel or be dazzled by the night sky. I hope the world will be a better place than it was the day before. If that’s naive, please let me stay that way.
